Keep Sydney Open says election failure has boosted momentum for lockout law repeal

Anti-lockout law party Keep Sydney Open says it will redouble its efforts to convince the NSW Parliament to repeal the laws after the party failed to win a seat in the upper house.

Keep Sydney Open's lead candidate for the upper house Tyson Koh narrowly missed out on winning a seat in the Legislative Council after the party secured 81,508 first preference votes at the state election.

Mr Koh said while he was disappointed, the party's near-miss had added momentum to the campaign for abolishing the laws.

"We saw over 80,000 people vote for a party that has only been around for one year. We've had so many people come forward in the last two weeks offering their help and support."

Mr Koh said Keep Sydney Open would remain as a political party, after registering in March 2018. Before then, the group had functioned as a lobbying outfit for over four years, opposing the lockout laws introduced by the O'Farrell government in 2014.

He said Keep Sydney Open would refocus its efforts "to make sure the lockout laws are not just gone, but that it's done in a responsible way," Mr Koh said.

The make-up of the new Parliament - in particular, the upper house where there is an expanded 11-member crossbench - may prove a key factor in determining whether the issue returns to the parliamentary floor for debate.

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With 17 MPs in the upper house, the government will need to secure five extra votes from the crossbench if Labor opposes its agenda. A majority of the new crossbench has flagged their support for relaxing or dumping the lockout laws, including the Greens which hold three seats, and the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party which hold two.

Emma Hurst, the newly elected MP for the Animal Justice Party, which also has two seats in the upper house, said she was "definitely supportive" of reviewing the laws.

Mr Koh said there were signs the government was beginning to "re-think the lockout laws", pointing to a recent interview in which Premier Gladys Berejiklian described the laws as a "work in progress".

Ms Berejiklian's comments follow an internal push within the government last year, led by Deputy Premier John Barilaro, to wind back the laws across the CBD but leave them in place in Kings Cross. While some cabinet members supported a wind-back, the government did not change its position.